James, Marx, Gilbert/USA/1994; R1
Criterion, US$29.95 | Reviewed by John Spry

HAILED BY critics as a classic of documentary filmmaking, Hoop Dreams was recently re-released on DVD in the United States by the Criterion Collection, a company responsible for restored and definitive editions of once and now classic films. This edition, formely unavailable, takes its cue from previous releases in terms of the quality consumers now expect from Criterion. The disc contains a lush transfer with many special features and is a must for any fan of the documentary, or simply those with a love for great films.

Media Release | 25 August, 2005
Auckland’s Academy Cinema is playing host to an evening film exhibition on Monday 17 October. ELAM PAST AND PRESENT will allow the wider public a rare insight into what Elam moving image students have to offer. This is an experience not to be missed!

One month on and a hundred or so movies later, Lumière's editors battled post-festival depression to wrap the 2005 TNZIFF programme. In Part A, DAVID LEVINSON takes us from the P's of Palindromes, to the Q's of Kings & Queen.

In Part B, TIM WONG tells us what rocked his boat, and what sunk it entirely.

Reviewed by Shahir Daud

"Comedy is tragedy happening to someone else" —W.C. Fields

IT'S TOO EASY to riff dirt on Woody Allen, since he's probably best known right now for his sexual indiscretion with his adopted daughter.

But what amazes me the most about Allen's naysayer's is how few actually know his tremendous body of work. I have to admit myself, that even though I've managed to digest a number of Allen films over the years, I've only scraped the surface of an iceberg of films that could sink the Titanic all over again.

Noir for generation XYZ. In this Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller/Quentin Tarantino-tagalong, we get the urban squalor of a thousand post-war crime thrillers, all digitally rendered out in sprites and Photoshop layers and a fistful of crazy angles. Smudging three hard-boiled short stories with the bookends of a fourth (it seems), Miller's carnivorous page-tuner is stained with its own brand of scepticism.

Palestinian struggle finds a new voice in a vital, emerging cinema with Hany Abu-Assad's Paradise Now – perhaps the most gripping example of this yet. ANDREW BRETTELL reviews.

Here, in no exact order, is ALEXANDER BISLEY's baker’s dozen of festival films sure to rise aesthetically. (Fingers crossed for further screenings.)

    » The Child
    » Moolaadé
    » Kings and Queen
    » Shake Hands With The Devil
    » 3-Iron
    » The Intruder
    » Look at Me
    » Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room
    » The 5000 Fingers of Doctor T
    » Look Both Ways
    » U-Carmen
    » Darwin's Nightmare
    » The White Diamond

Mark Forster/USA/2004; R4
Roadshow, NZ$34.95 | Reviewed by Alexander Bisley

THE TALK on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, publicity-hungry studio encouraged no doubt, is that Johnny Depp channels Michael Jackson (You could argue Jacko channeled Willy Wonka). The last excellent, unsettling performance from the fantastic Mr. Depp – in Finding Neverland – also features a man whose behaviour around children aroused suspicion. "A grown man playing with children all day long!" complains Sylvia Davies' mother when one Sir James M. Barrie starts spending serious time with the family. The celebrated playwright (Peter Pan) received his fair share of critics when he befriends the Davies children – Peter (Freddie Highmore), most notably – and their mother Sylvia (Kate Winslet), the inspiration for his childhood classic.

From the wires: festival attendances for Wellington are in, clocking in at 72,315: just short of 2004's all-time record 73,184 admissions. Taking into account the apparent "sombre" tone of this year's programme, the numbers can be considered in good health, particularly in the wake of blow-out films such as Fahrenheit 9/11 – a notable festival selection that contributed in part to last year's windfall in box office takings. Auckland fared even better, breaking the previous festival's 100,000 threshold to reach an impressive 101,805.

Can forgiveness be found in a fairy tale? JOHN SPRY investigates The Woodsman – the story of a sex offender's attempts to regain a sense of 'self' – in search of answers.

Martin Scorsese/USA/2004; R4 (2-disc WE)
Warner Bros, NZ$39.95 | Reviewed by John Spry

The Aviator is the result of a great director making a film about what he knows and loves: movie making in Hollywood and a maverick that intends to change the way people think. If you've seen any of the documentaries that Scorsese has been involved with about cinema, one thing shines through – that he loves movies and all that this affair entails. Scorsese has grown up going to the movies from his days in New York, through to the present where he keeps up with the latest "new" prospective talent emerging from time to time in the United States and abroad.